Water used for irrigation in semiarid regions of the world
is not always of good quality, and may contain salts levels
that inhibit plants growth. This study was conducted
to evaluate the growth of papaya (
Carica papaya
L.)
‘Golden’ seedlings irrigated with saline water in soil with
and without bovine biofertilizer produced by anaerobic
fermentation of a mixture of fresh bovine manure and
water. The experiment was carried out in Areia County,
Paraiba State, Brazil. Treatments were distributed in
randomized blocks using a factorial design 5 × 2 relative
to five salinity levels in irrigation water of 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0
and 4.0 dS m
-1 in soil with and without bovine biofertilizer,
corresponding to 10% of the substrate volume. At 90 d
after emergence (DAE), both the electrical conductivity
(EC) in soil saturation extract, biometric growth and DM
production of papaya seedlings were evaluated. Increased
salinity from 0.5 to 4.0 dS m
-1 raised, within 90 DAE, soil
EC of saturation extract (ECse) from 1.19 to 3.95 dS m
-1
and from 1.23 to 3.63 dS m
-1 in treatments with and without
bovine biofertilizer, respectively. Also, the increase in
water salinity from 0.5 dS m
-1 to the estimated maximum
values ranging from 1.46 to 2.13 dS m
-1 stimulated seedling
height to 11.42 and 18.72 cm in soil with and without
bovine biofertilizer, respectively. Higher salinity levels in
irrigation water increased soil salinity levels to values that
inhibited both growth and quality of papaya seedlings, but
with less severity when treated with bovine biofertilizer.
